Gigafast wifi speed

[Justin-71]

I upgraded yesterday from Ultrafast Plus to Gigafast.  Prevoiusly with Ultrafast Plus, (whilst sat next to the router( I was getting wifi speeds of c 450 mbps.  With Gigafast,  (using the same test) I am now getting speeds of 450 mbps to 550 mpbs. This feels like a negligible increase for the extra price.  

I phoned up Sky support and we reset the router and also adjusted the 2.4 ghz channel but the improvement has been small.

Has anyone else had this experience?  I am thinking of giving it a couple more weeks and then if no improvement cancelling the Gigafast and going back to Ultrafast Plus.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Justin-71 wrote:

This feels like a negligible increase for the extra price.  

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Are you using a white Max Hub and a WiFi 6 client device?

Without those, 450-550 Mbs using 802.11ac (WiFi 5) hardware is very reasonable, and the (almost) doubling of bandwidth from the internet to the Hub itself really can't make much difference.

As I've just remarked in another post, the 'point' of gigafast is mostly to supply 'enough' bandwidth for multiple devices simultaneously, and almost no individual hardware items actually benefit from more than a small fraction of such bandwidth.

[Justin-71]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

We are using the standard black router that was issued at the time I got Ultrfast Plus in the Summer of 2022.   Are Sky issuing new Hubs?

I was testing it on a Pixel 6a which is I think Wifi 6 enabled.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Justin-71 wrote:

 Are Sky issuing new Hubs?

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They have one, but as an additional subscription item:

https://www.skygroup.sky/article/Sky-Broadband-releases-its-most-powerful-WiFi-yet 

[TimmyBGood]

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@Justin-71 wrote:

I was testing it on a Pixel 6a which is I think Wifi 6 enabled.

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It is, but what a phone can possibly do with that kind of bandwidth I can't imagine ; )

The (black) Sky Broadband Hub is WiFi 5

[Justin-71]

Ok thanks -  I'm surprised that is not issued as standard if you are upgrading to Gigasfast.  Otherwise what is the point in getting speeds of up to 900 if  the router issued by Sky cannot handle it.

[TimmyBGood · Accepted solution]

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@Justin-71 wrote:

 Otherwise what is the point in getting speeds of up to 900 if  the router issued by Sky cannot handle it.

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As I said, your phone (for example) doesn't need 90Mbs, let alone 900Mbs.  Frankly gigabit is entirely unnecessary for most households* : the standard Hub model handles it just fine as far as its own ethernet ports, which is where ISP responsibility ends.

*For example, a single address with a full complement of six Stream pucks and three Glass television sets 'needs' better than Ultrafast 1 delivered to the router in the (unlikely) event that they are all showing UHD simultaneously, but each individual device is only using around 25Mbs over WiFi, and a standard Hub is just fine for that.

[Killersjp]

Hi. I just got the Gig broadband. I also get around 500 through WIFi. This is also fine as I got the Gig for my PC which does download over 900  through eithernet. Hope this helps.

[jamesn123]

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@Justin-71 wrote:

Ok thanks -  I'm surprised that is not issued as standard if you are upgrading to Gigasfast.  Otherwise what is the point in getting speeds of up to 900 if  the router issued by Sky cannot handle it.

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Its designed for many client devices at once to download or stream at UHD speeds. Not for a single device to run a speedtest at gigabit speeds.

Its also designed for high speed downloads over ethernet.

[markw2015]

I also only get 450 - 500 Mbps over WiFi but I'm getting 1.3Gbps over a wired connection. It's frustrating that the equipment your provided with can't provide the throughput that your paying for irrespective of wether you need it. Stock sky answer is you have the speed to the router which is pointless if yiu can use it. Do I now need to walk around my home tethered by Ethernet to my phone? 

[simon194]

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@markw2015 wrote:

I also only get 450 - 500 Mbps over WiFi but I'm getting 1.3Gbps over a wired connection. It's frustrating that the equipment your provided with can't provide the throughput that your paying for irrespective of wether you need it. Stock sky answer is you have the speed to the router which is pointless if yiu can use it. Do I now need to walk around my home tethered by Ethernet to my phone? 

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As has been mentioned you can pay extra a month and get the white Wifi Max hub.

I decided to go with Wifi 6 access points, rather than pay the extra a month, as a more cost effective solution which gives me a minimum 600 Mbps anywhere in my house. Access points generally have better coverage than routers.

I then added a second to form a wifi bridge to my home office upstairs and hardwired to all the rooms upstairs. This gives me just over 900 Mbps in my office.

[jamesn123]

@markw2015 

Why would you need more than 500mbps to your phone? What possible application is there for it? 

Like I said before, Sky's Gigafast product is not designed to provide a single WiFi client device with gigabit speeds its for many devices at once to use that bandwidth.

[markw2015]

@jamesn123 thanks for your input but doesn't really matter what your opinion is as to how I utilize my fiber or what I want to use it for. The point is that with one device or with 24 devices connected it's still capped out at approx 500 Mbps using the current sky router and never reaches the the available bandwidth. With the consistent approach with your answers on this subject it's  feeling like you are a sky employee trying to justify  their poor kit

[jamesn123]

@markw2015 

Nope not a Sky employee or I wouldn't talk to 'Customers' in the tone I am talking now.

With the consistent approach of your answers on this subject its feeling like you do not have the technical knowledge to realise that you are very unlikely to get a consistent 1000mbps over WiFi with ISP grade gear. You would need to invest in your own high end AX WiFi kit or use ethernet.

[markw2015]

@jamesn123 And there you go you could have said that in the first place rather that trying to be superior and judgemental in your answer.

I alredy know that the ISP kit is not good enough, but again sky offer a service where the supplied kit cannot provide the speeds equivilent to what you recieve at wired connection but is a limitiation that Sky will not own up to. However in a community i would expect that those like your self who seem to spend a great deal of time on the community would have maybe offered such advice like "try a wifi 6 or 7 router." or speeds are faster over 5ghz 

people are looking for soloutions and advice on how to resolve the issues not excuses supporting the supplier. For the record 35 years in IT gives me the technical knowledge to resolve my issue but obviously im looking to see if my supplier will step up and offer a soloution.